Epilogue

"What do you mean!? You say it smells like Delos!" "Chalk dust, dried monster meat, and soup from Mia-chan's cafeteria!"

. "That's not an explanation!" "My nose is sharp. The school is just beyond that sand dune!" "I'm telling you, that makes no sense! We're in the middle of a desert!"

As Alpla kicked up sand and started running, Fatia followed suit out of habit. They didn't care about Guest in the back, choking on the dust.

"Pla-chan, the heat's gone to your head... or..."

The voices of the two who ran up the dune cut off.

"...Guest..."

Guest looks up. Fatia's voice, falling from above, was trembling violently. In the desert, under the scorching sun. And yet, it sounded as if she had been thrown into an ice bath.

"Come up here... hurry."

—?

. "Hurry!"

Slapped by the urgency in that voice, Guest climbs the sand dune.

Crunch.

Scrape.

Thud.

With every step, the air felt different. The summer temperature of Delos, containing just a hint of moisture. The same wind that used to blow across the benches in the shade.

...And yet, it wasn't pleasant at all.

This dissonance.

"...What do you think?" "What do I..."

The academy was there. Or rather...

"I recognize this place." "...Me too."

Alpla thrusts her hand into the sand.

Between her fingertips as she pulls them out was a metal plate with peeling blue paint.

It looked familiar. It was a fragment of the guide sign that stood on the path to the sports field.

"Pla-chan, this is..." "...Yes,"

Alpla answers.

"We passed through here. This morning."

At that time, there was a dirt path. There were hedges. Cicadas were buzzing, and students were walking toward their club activities. The sandy ground ends abruptly at their feet.

Beyond it, lush grassland spreads out, yet not a single grain of dry sand has entered it.

It was as if the world had been sliced apart by a giant blade,

Deciding that this side is "Desert." And that side is "Academy."

It was a boundary defined like that.

They hadn't been walking through an unknown desert. A part of the academy had become a desert in just a few hours.

It makes one dizzy.

...Anyway, I want to take a shower.